Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis Preview – Reimagining the Sword of Damocles
by Stefan L · tsaLong-running game series often go in cycles, needing to reinvent themselves for newer generations and audiences, and then trying to wind back the clock to rediscover what made them popular in the first place. With its 30th anniversary in just a few months, it’s no surprise that Tomb Raider has been through this a of couple times. The original game was already remade once in 2007’s Tomb Raider: Anniversary to kick off the Crystal Dynamics era, and Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis is set to kickstart the latest reinvention.
At the heart of Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis is a collaboration between Crystal Dynamics and Flying Wild Hog – the Polish studio best known for their Shadow Warrior series. Between them, they’re pushing ahead with not just a modern visual overhaul for the game, not just more modern animations and controls, but also a deeper consideration for the gameplay and the world and puzzle design. Similar to how Anniversary updated the game for the early PS3 and Xbox 360 era, this is looking to bring the game into the 2020s.
Right off the bat for the hands off presentation, they note that Legacy of Atlantis will close off the logic hole of how med packs could be found within the tombs and wildernesses of the original games. Who left them behind? Instead, there’s now a crafting system, gathering local resources and then turning them into restorative health potions, or an Explorer’s Stew to reduce trap damage for a period of time. Look, it’s still video gamey, and there’s still plenty that’s implausible in Lara’s adventures here, but it’s a change that works and bridges part of the game to more modern gaming.
The world has also been redesigned to bring new surprises, but still honour the original world and puzzles. The main area we saw featured the Swords of Damocles puzzle, still with the iconic swords dangling from the ceiling, waiting to impale unsuspecting explorers, and then with trap blade stabbing up out of the floors. But both have been completely reconsidered. The swords trigger QTEs to dodge the initial wave, the spikes from the floor are now more spread out, and the puzzle to release the door mechanism and escape the room has been rethought a little. Oh, and if you look up, you can also just shoot the swords down, instead of having to tentatively trigger and dodge them.
While exploring, Lara can pull out a 3D laser scanner which, while it’s probably also very useful to level shelves and picture frames at home, is great for exploring as well. It can be used to get hints on the puzzles, as well as dredge up information on statues and relics. Another tool in her kit is the grappling hook to swing from grapple points as well as to grab onto certain levers and pulleys from a distance, and it can also be used to rappel up and down in certain situations.
Of course, she also has her iconic dual pistols and can pull out a shotgun for different enemies, and the combat and boss battles have all been reconstructed for current times. The fight with a spotted leopard sees the big cat given some added tricks and abilities, the leopard able to go for a big claw swipe, to try and pin Lara to the ground, and then to pull back and retreat into cracks in the walls to strike from another direction. During a fight like this, Lara can build up and use a Focus meter, pulling the game into slow motion to help land crucial shots.
While the graphics look absolutely on point for the current generation, the animation and the manner in which Lara gets around absolutely work from a retro gaming perspective. Lara is always in complete control of her actions, able to leap precisely two-footed from on tiny post to another, seamlessly land and grab onto ledges, and then pull off an acrobatic upward flourish into a handstand and through to being back on her feet. There’s no hint of this being a problem for her, and it just makes it feel like the Lara of old, when the Survivor trilogy had her scrapping and struggling through the world. One quirk I did notice, though, is that Lara now needs to sprint in order to cross a larger gap, which makes perfect sense to me.
And Lara can look a little bit retro too. Finding relics like an Athenian Owl can unlock outfits inspired from previous games – Legends in this instance. Sadly, they wouldn’t be drawn on having retro low-poly character models as well, but it’s a nice touch regardless.
Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis looks like a pleasing modernisation of the 90s classic. It’s definitely trying to straddle that line between being respectful of the original, while also renewing and refreshing its ideas so that they feel native to the modern day. When even going back to Anniversary will feel dated, let alone to the tank controls of the original, there’s something nice about this kind of rejuvenation.